MASSENA, N.Y. (AP) â" A massive hydro-power project on the St. Lawrence River is celebrating its 60th anniversary.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo marked the milestone by announcing a renewal of the partnership between the New York Power Authority and Ontario Power Generation for 15 more years.

The United States and Canada each operate half of the power plant's 32 turbines. New York's St. Lawrence-FDR Power Project in Massena produces more than 820,000 kilowatts of electricity, enough to light a city the size of Washington, DC.

Canadian officials operate the R.H. Saunders Generating Station in neighboring Cornwall, Ontario.

Thousands of Saudi Arabian students have to leave Canada because their governments are fighting, so they're ...

People at the airport before boarding a flight from Toronto, Canada, to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in August. REUTERS/Chris Donovan/File Photo

Canada and Saudi Arabia have been feuding since Canada's foreign minister called out Saudi Arabia's human rights record on Twitter in early August.

In response, Saudi Arabia has expelled the Canadian ambassador, frozen all new investments, and canceled all flights to Toronto.

It also pulled thousands of students from Saudi institutions.

Thousands of students have to le ave by August 31.

Many are now scrambling to sell their belongings, including cars and furniture, online and in garage sales before they leave the country.

The diplomatic feud between Canada and Saudi Arabia means that around 8,000 Saudi students studying in Canada have to leave the country by August 31 â" leaving them scrambling to sell off their belongings.

The Saudi government announced on August 7 that it would recall students on government grants or scholarships from Canada. Since then, students have been trying to sell all their belongings online and in garage sales â" from pots and pans to chairs to cars.

The Ummah Mosque and community center in Halifax, Nova Scotia, held two garage sales on August 12 and August 17 to help students to help the students sell their belongings.

Imam Abdullah Yousri, who runs the mosque, said he decided to hold the sales when he saw so many students were trying to get rid of their stuff online.

He told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: "They're selling their cars, their homes, their furniture â" everything. So we thought this is the best way to help them to do so."

He added on the Facebook event page for one of the garage sales: "Such garage sale is open for all the community but especially our Saudi student brethren to assist them in the sale of their belongings."

Here's what the first garage sale looked like.

It was so successful that the mosque held a second one for cars later that week. The cars on sale that day included 2010 Dodge Journey and a 2010 Hyundai Sonata, according to a Facebook Marketplace ad for the event.

Those selling their cars online also revealed their sadness at having to part with their vehicles.

One student selling a 2018 Nissan Rogue S on Facebook in Ontario said he was "an unfortunate Saudi Student who is been forced to leave Canada due to the clash with Saudi Arabia."

"When I have purchased this car, it meant to be my everlasting but sometimes you have no option. It is still like-new brand car, everything is awesome and perfect," he added. "I have oil sprayed it this summer to be ready for the winter, but sadly I won't even stay for the fall!"

Elsewhere, many students are selling tables, televisions, chairs, and shelves on Facebook Marketplace, while others are using Kijiji, a Canadian buy-and-sell website, to get rid of strollers and mattresses.

How the feud came to be

Saudi Arabia an nounced on August 7 that it would withdraw all students it had been sponsoring in Canadian universities after Chrystia Freeland, Canada's foreign minister, criticized Saudi Arabia's human rights record on Twitter.

Freeland had been responding to the news that the Saudi government arrested several activists, including the sister of a Canadian citizen. In response, Saudi Arabia expelled the Canadian ambassador, frozen all new investment, and canceled all flights to Toronto.

Neither country is willing to back down, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau saying on Thursday tha t his government is continuing to "engage diplomatically" with Saudi Arabia, but that he is "concerned" after news broke that a Saudi woman is facing a death sentence for her political activism.

Canadian universities have been trying to support their Saudi students in wake of the new policy. Five universities said on Wednesday that the Saudi trainee doctors enrolled in their programs had been granted an extra three weeks in the country, and can stay until September 22, according to Reuters.

The University of Toronto's vice-provost for international student experience, Joseph Wong, also said in a statement: "This is a very stressful time for these students. Their studies have been interrupted, and we want to help them to continue their education.

"We will be working with them, our colleagues at other universities and with government officials, as the situation continues to evolve."

Madison vs. Canada Prep Academy

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Many First Nation communities across Canada have been under long-term boil water advisories. One community is trying some innovative solutions. Graduate students from the University of British Columbia report from Lytton, British Columbia. This project is in collaboration with the Global Reporting Centre.

Karen Dunstan lifts a large metal pot up to the sink and turns on the tap. The water is crisp, cold and clear, but it isn't clean.

When the pot is nearly full, she puts it on the stove to boil. Only then can she and her children have a drink.

For more than 20 years, this was part of her morning routine.

"You would have flu-like symptoms and have diarrhoea and vomiting from drinking the water [without boiling]," says Dunstan, 53. Like many in her community, she lived under a boil water advisory for decades.

Dunstan lives in Lytton First Nation, a rural on-reserve Indigenous community of 945 people in British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province.

Lytton is just one among hundreds of First Nations that have suffered from a water crisis in Canada.

Despite the fact that Canada has the world's third largest per-capita freshwater reserve, the water many Indigenous communities depend on is contaminated, difficult to access, or at risk due to faulty treatment systems.

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Nestled deep in the Fraser Canyon, the community of Lytton is centred around the confluence of two mighty waterways.

It's here the dark blue-green waters of the Thompson River mix and quickly disappear into the muddy-brown water of the Fraser, British Columbia's longest river.

A patchwork of 56 reserves spread over 14,161 acres, Lytton draws its water from these rivers and the creeks feeding into them.

But animal faeces and agricultural activity upstream release coliform bacteria such as E. Coli into the water, making it potentially unsafe to drink.

For years, residents resorted to buying bottled water or simply drank it untreated, which elders in the community link to a number of children's deaths.

"If you go to some of our reserves you almost wonder like, wow, isn't this the 21st Century? Why are they still living like that?" says Warren Brown, 45, the water operator at Lytton First Nation.

"It's like a third-world country sometimes."

A paramedic-turned-water operator, Brown is at the centre of Lytton's struggle for clean water.

He spends his days travelling across the reserve lands, inspecting and maintaining water treatment facilities. If an advisory needs to be issued, Brown is the one who makes the call.

There are currently 75 long-term drinking water advisories affecting more than 50 Indigenous communities across the country, according to Indigenous Services Canada.

A 2014 UN report described the water situation in First Nations reserves as "troubling," with more than half of the water systems posing medium or high health risk.

Non-Indigenous communities in Canada have nowhere near this level of risk.

Safe water supply off-reserves is the responsibility of the provincial governments.

But First Nations and the reserves they live on fall under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

This two-tiered governance structure means that, while most communities benefit from binding provincial water quality regulations, there are no such enforceable regulations on reserves.

Image copyright Courtesy Global Reporting Centre Image caption Water governance is for First Nations is the responsibility of the federal government

In March 2016, the Trudeau government announced new commitments and funds to end all long-term water advisories by 2021.

It's not the first time the government has pledged money to address these issues.

Past investments involving billions of dollars failed to produce lasting results. The lack of binding water quality regulations coupled with erratic funding, insufficient infrastructure and degraded water sources have led to systemic problems with drinking water on reserves.

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Under the curre nt structure, the federal government holds the purse strings for water systems on reserves.

When Lytton's aging Nickeyeah Creek water facility could no longer provide safe drinking water, they submitted an upgrade proposal, as required, to Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, the federal department previously responsible for services in Indigenous communities.

It was subsequently replaced by Indigenous Services Canada (ISC) by the Trudeau government.

Their proposal was rejected for not being "cost effective".

An engineering firm had quoted Lytton C$1.3m (Â£780,000) for the work - too much, the department decided, for a facility that only serviced six houses.

Image copyright Joanne Pearce Image caption Lytto n, British Columbia

Warren Brown and his uncle Jim Brown, Lytton's previous water operator for 35 years, were determined to get safe drinking water for their community.

A tall man with a wry smile, Jim connected with RES'EAU-WaterNet, a research network at the University of British Columbia which specialises in small, affordable water systems.

The network conducted a year-long study on the facility, consulting with water operators and community members.

Because of the large distances between facilities and a small number of staff, communities like Lytton require a creative approach, explains Dr Majid Mohseni, scientific director at RES'EAU.

RES'EAU decided to build a new facility altogether.

The facility was designed to be smaller, low on maintenance and to fit inside a shipping container - all for the price of C$500,000.

When the water system was completed in 2015, the community had a celebration.

"I told the guys nobody can bring bottled water, we're drinking water right out of this [facility]. And we did," says Jim Brown.

Karen Dunstan's house is one of the six serviced by the new facility. For the first time in her life, she no longer has to boil her water.

"Having clean drinking water from the tap is a blessing," says Dunstan.

Even with the new treatment plant, Lytton's water problems were far from solved.

Image copyright Joanne Pearce Image caption Karen Dunstan boiled the water she used for over two decades

While ISC is responsible for providing clean drinking water in Indigenous communities, ther e's a catch. It only considers groupings of five households or more as eligible for funding.

When Lytton's reserves were created, the government assigned them a patchwork of 56 parcels of land, some more than 100 km (62 miles) apart. Many of these reserves have fewer than five houses.

"I think water should be the right of all our people, regardless of how many people are living on a certain reserve," says Warren Brown.

Ted Philips, 48, lives on a reserve with only three houses. He's been drinking untreated water his whole life.

"We were told it wasn't good but we drank it regardless," says Philips.

"We were just never told or we never knew any better."

Warren and RES'EAU had to come up with a new solution to bring clean water to Lytton's more isolated houses, such as Philips'.

They developed a Point-of-Entry (PoE) system that treats water as it enters each home and costs C$10,000 per unit. So far, five homes have been fitted with one.

Lytton was fortunate to have strong local leadership and the help of RESEAU's technology and expertise, and 11 houses now have clean water.

But 13 houses across several reserves are required to boil or haul water, their water sources too unreliable to support a PoE.

Across Canada, the situation remains worse for many other Indigenous communities.

The success found in Lytton is something Mohseni believes is scalable to a national level.

"I think there is great potential," he says.

"I think it's a sustainable way of ensuring that these boil water advisories are lifted and, more importantly, remain lifted."

National Water Concerns

Grassy Narrows, an Ontario First Nation, has lived under 'do not consume' advisories since 2013, a result of industrial pollution that contaminated their water with mercury throughout the 1960s and 70s. One research report suggested 90% of residents experience the debilitating effects of mercury poisoning.

In neighbouring Manitoba, Shoal Lake 40 First Nation was cut off from its traditional source of clean drinking water in the early 1900s, with waterways diverted to provide water to the province's capital city.

Since their advisory was put in place more than 20 years ago, the First Nation of 71 residents has been forced to import bottled water at an annual cost of C$100,000.

While the number of boil water advisories has decreased since the government's promise, dozens of new advisories have been called.

A recent report from the David Suzuki Foundation, an environme ntal advocacy organisation, highlighted many of the challenges in achieving the target.

Many are centred around one issue: Indigenous communities do not receive enough education, training and support when it comes to water management.

The government insists it is "firmly on track" to meet the 2021 target.

"We are following this very closely with meticulous detail to have exact timelines and targets for every one of the long-term drinking water advisories that are still in place," Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott says.

Warren says if Lytton is going to continue its success, it needs to work hard to maintain its water systems.

Image copyright Joanne Pearce Image caption Warren Brown hopes youth will develop an interest in where their water comes from

He is looking for long-term solutions within his community, beyond government-set timelines and targets.

Warren spends time training young water operators, and even conducts water facility tours for school groups, in the hope of enticing kids into the profession from an early age.

He knows it's not an easy job, and one that requires dedication.

The job bears the intimate responsibility of shaping a community's relationship to their water. It means protecting and providing a kind of normal that is often taken for granted: the taste, smell, and clarity of safe drinking water.

"When I first started this job, I always just turned the tap on and the water was there. I never bothered to understand where it came from," says Warren Brown to a tour group from a local school.

He conducts these tours regularly, encouraging youth to t hink about where their water comes from - but, more importantly, to find the next generation of water operators.

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Surprisingly, These 2 Popular Marijuana Products Won't Be Legal in Canada

After months of debate between Canada's Senate and its House of Commons, and following years of promises from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, our neighbor to the north stands on the verge of becoming the first industrialized country in the world to legalize recreational marijuana.

Subsequent to the passage of the Cannabis Act on June 19, Trudeau set a date of Oct. 17, 2018 as the official in-dispensary launch for adult-use weed sales. The four-month delay was to give provinces enough time to get their regulatory infrastructure in place, as well as allow growers and cannabis supply chains ample time to get their products into retail locations.

The legalization of recreational pot is expected to generate big bucks for the industry, and hopefully for enthusiastic investors, too. Already bringing in a few hundred million dollars annually from domestic medical marijuana sales and via exports to foreign countries where medical weed is legal, Canada's pot industry could add up to $5 billion in annual sales once it's fully up to scale. Those are eye-popping numbers that'll clearly make Canada the leader in pot progressivism.

Image source: Getty Images.

Sorry, folks, but these popular pot products won't be legal in Canada come October 17

Yet considering how aggressive Canada's lawmakers have been with marijuana, it's almost a head-scratcher that two very popular cannabis products won't be legal when the proverbial green flag waves on Oct. 17. While dried cannabis and cannabis oils have been given the green light fo r sale and consumption, Canadians and tourists looking for edibles containing cannabis, as well as cannabis-infused beverages, are going to be disappointed.

For the sake of simplicity, and given that lawmakers in Parliament already missed Trudeau's hopeful July 1 deadline to legalize, bill C-45, as the Cannabis Act also is known, addressed products that weren't contemplated in the bill with an amendment. Essentially, this amendment requires the Senate and House of Commons to address the Cannabis Act in the future for products like edibles and infused-beverages, which weren't included in the original bill.

When will that happen? While clearly nothing is set in stone, Parliament is expected to take up discussion on edibles and infused beverages sometime next year. If the two houses of Parliament can come to an agreement, both of these popular products could hit dispensary shelves at some point next year.

Of course, it's worth pointing out t hat a lot will depend on the supply-and-demand outlook within the domestic industry, as well as how successfully provinces are at regulating the weed industry on the front line. In other words, the more hiccups there are, the less likely Parliament will feel pressured to push through legislation on edibles and/or cannabis-infused beverages.

Image source: Getty Images.

Legal or not, big deals are brewing

However, the fact that it could be months, a year, or perhaps even longer before Parliament addresses edibles and infused beverages hasn't stopped the alcohol industry from making big cannabis deals. A little more than a week ago, Corona and Modelo beer-maker Constellation Brands (NYSE :STZ) turned heads when it made a $3.8 billion equity investment in Canopy Growth Corp. (NYSE:CGC), the largest marijuana stock by market cap.

This wasn't Constellation's first foray with Canopy Growth, either. In late October 2017, it acquired a 9.9% equity stake for roughly $190 million. Then in June, it gobbled up a third of Canopy's 600 million Canadian dollars (just over $450 million) convertible note offering. Convertible notes give the holder the option of turning their debt into shares of common stock.

By purchasing these convertible notes, Constellation Brands gave itself the opportunity to further build its equity stake in Canopy Growth. Plus, with the 139.7 million warrants Constellation received as part of its newest equity investment, it could eventually push its stake to over 50% if these warrants are exercised.

The duo should be working together on a number of projects, one of which likely will be cannabis-infuse d beverages. Canopy Growth obviously understands the ins and outs of pot production, while Constellation can bring its marketing and distribution expertise to the table to expand the reach of Canopy's products.

Image source: Getty Images.

In similar fashion, on August 1, Molson Coors Brewing (NYSE:TAP) announced that it had chosen the Hydropothecary Corporation (NASDAQOTH:HYYDF) as its cannabis partner. The selection was a bit of a surprise, as Hydropothecary may not even wind up as a top-10 producer once capacity expansion for the industry is complete. However, Hydropothecary does have one thing working in its favor: a 200,000-kilogram, five-year supply deal with Quebec. This deal may likely have shown Molson Coors Brewing that Hydropothecary was ready for the main stage.

With Molson Coors' Canadian and U.S. beer sales declining and its Canadian market share shrinking over the past decade, it's hoping that a joint venture with Hydropothecary (Molson will own 57.5% of the joint venture) focused on infused beverages will turn things around.

Beer makers are counting on the cannabis industry to make a difference in their top and bottom line. The big question is: How long will it take before that happens?

Sean Williams has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of Molson Coors Brewing. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.